A ceremony on Friday thanked Delta Air Lines for donating a jet to Montana’s Helena Regional Airport that will be used to train emergency responders nationwide and from foreign countries.

The Bombardier CRJ aircraft, a 50-passenger regional jet that’s typically used to link Montana cities and ferry passengers to airline hubs in the West, is the second jet that the Rocky Mountain Emergency Services Training Center has received recently.

The jet arrived at the airport on Saturday, said Ron Mercer, Helena Regional Airport Authority director. The center, which is owned and operated by the Helena Regional Airport Authority, was given a Boeing 727 cargo jet by FedEx last year. This is the first time that Delta has donated an aircraft, said Cynthia Van Epps, regional director corporate real estate-airport affairs for Delta.

For the complete story by Al Knauber of the (Helena) Independent Record, click here.

Photo by Thom Bridge, Independent Record

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Online Editor I've been around airplanes since I was a kid. That's when my uncle, a professional pilot, showed me how to fly his Cessna 177 Cardinal. l later became a writer and editor, so covering the exciting and ever-changing aviation industry -- which I've been doing in Flight Journal's Flybys since the late '90s -- was a natural fit.